Reference no: EM132665723
Assignment - Analyzing Global Hierarchies
Assignment Instructions
• Construct a 650-750 word response to the prompt below.
• If you use sources other than those from the syllabus, please attach a list of references cited. While there is no need to make a reference list for the assigned readings, I do expect to see you make specific reference to the scholars we read and cite page numbers internally [e.g., (Vitalis, 2015)] if quoting them directly.
• Remember to answer all parts of the question for full credit!
• Your response should be in your words, not mine or Dr. Schroeder's.
Essay Prompt:
You are working for the UN Secretary-General. The Secretary-General is trying to better understand how today's protests around racial justice fit into historical and contemporary demands for change around the world.
You tell her that there are plenty of perspectives on this question, including one presented by critical theorists which argues that world politics is composed of a set of overlapping global hierarchies. She is intrigued and assigns you to write a short essay that elaborates on this argument so she can potentially incorporate some of these ideas/examples into her own statements.
The Secretary-General has asked that you write it as an analytical essay and not as a speech or letter.
Specifically, she wants a brief essay that addresses four questions/issues:
1. Describe one historical OR contemporary race, class or gendered global hierarchy.
2. What group(s) enjoy what (security, economic, environmental) benefit(s) from these hierarchal relations? What (security, economic, environmental) cost(s)s are imposed on those at the bottom of the hierarchy or how does it marginalize/discriminate against those groups at the bottom?
3. What specifically sustains this global hierarchy (i.e., is it the use of force/coercion and/or is there a hegemonic discourse)?
4. What might cause it to break down (ie where was/might there be space to mobilize resistance/what might/does a counter-hegemonic discourse look like)?